“Beggar to Beggar Cried” by William Butler Yeats [w/ Audio]

"Time to put off the world and go somewhere
And find my health again in the sea air,"
Beggar to beggar cried, being frenzy-struck,
"And make my soul before my pate is bare;

"And get a comfortable wife and house
To rid me of the devil in my shoes,"
Beggar to beggar cried, being frenzy-struck,
"And the worse devil that is between my thighs.

"And though I'd marry with a comely lass,
She need not be too comely -- let it pass,"
Beggar to beggar cried, being frenzy-struck,
"But there's a devil in a looking glass.

"Nor should she be too rich, because the rich
Are driven by wealth as beggars by the itch,"
Beggar to beggar cried, being frenzy-struck,
"And cannot have a humorous happy speech.

"And there I'll grow respected at my ease,
And hear amid the garden's nightly peace,"
Beggar to beggar cried, being frenzy-struck,
"The wind-blown clamor of the barnacle-geese."

“Flood” by James Joyce [w/ Audio]

Gold-brown upon the sated flood
The rock-vine clusters lift and sway:
Vast wings above the lambent waters
brood
Of sullen day.

A waste of waters ruthlessly
Sways and uplifts its weedy mane,
Where brooding day stares down
upon the sea
In dull disdain.

Uplift and sway, O golden vine,
Thy clustered fruits to love's full
flood,
Lambent and vast and ruthless as is
thine
Incertitude.

Snake [Lyric Poem]

I saw a snake had made a gnarly bed --
On logs and stones, its length did curl and thread.
Ah, to be comfy on bark's ragged bumps...
I wake up when PJ's wad to a lump.

“The Bumblebee” by James Whitcomb Riley [w/ Audio]

You better not fool with a Bumblebee!--
Ef you don't think they can sting -- you'll see!
They're lazy to look at, an' kind o' go
Buzzin' an' bummin' aroun' so slow,
An' ac' so slouchy an' all fagged out,
Danglin' their legs as they drone about
The hollyhawks 'at they can't climb in
'Ithout ist a-tumble-un out ag'in!
Wunst I watched one climb clean 'way
In a jimson-blossom, I did, one day,--
An' I ist grabbed it -- an' nen let go--
An' "Ooh-ooh! Honey! I told ye so!"
Says The Raggedy Man; an' he ist run
An' pullt out the stinger, an' don't laugh none,
An' says: "They has be'n folks, I guess,
'At thought I wuz prejudust, more or less, --
Yit I still muntain 'at a Bumblebee
Wears out his welcome too quick fer me!"

Lion-tailed Macaque [Lyric Poem]

I came upon a Lion-tailed Macaque,
And was instantly taken aback.
Sure, its tail was lion-like, but what's weird
Is that namers didn't call upon that beard!

Orangutan [Lyric Poem]

Orangutans live their lives in the trees.
The jungle has as many as they please --
But - with trees - the Zoo is quite sparing,
Leaving just one twig: non-loadbearing.

“Before I got my eye put out –” (336) by Emily Dickinson [w/ Audio]

Before I got my eye put out --
I liked as well to see
As other creatures, that have eyes --
And know no other way --

But were it told to me, Today,
That I might have the Sky
For mine, I tell you that my Heart
Would split, for size of me --

The Meadows -- mine --
The Mountains -- mine --
All Forests -- Stintless stars --
As much of noon, as I could take --
Between my finite eyes --

The Motions of the Dipping Birds --
The Morning's Amber Road --
For mine -- to look at when I liked,
The news would strike me dead --

So safer -- guess -- with just my soul
Opon the window pane
Where other creatures put their eyes --
Incautious -- of the Sun --

Ibis [Lyric Poem]

The Egyptians found the Ibis sacred.
This must have made the Ibis elated.
I watched one try to push a Heron around;
The unimpressed Heron just stood its ground.

Tortoise [Lyric Poem]

Thirty-year-old man buys same-aged tortoise;
Middle-aged tortoise: owner has rigor mortis.
In retrospect, it was a stupid plan;
Clearly, the tortoise should have bought the man.

Wolf [Lyric Poem]

You may think the wolf is all howl --
Interspersed with gravelly growls,
But unlike the dog's nightly riots,
Wolves are remarkably quiet.